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Advice for a financial services entrepreneurs - Q & A

Dean calls in to ask how to capitalize on opportunities as an entrepreneur in the world of financial advising.      

Rich Sloan:  We've got Dean out of Harrison Township, Michigan.  Welcome to the show, Dean.

Dean:  Hey, guys.  Thanks for having me.

Rich Sloan:  Right on.  How can we help you?

Dean:  Well, I have a question related to financial advising.  I'm a financial advisor relatively new to the industry and I've recently moved brokerages.

Rich Sloan:  Okay.

Dean:  I did not take a book of business with me and I'm looking to build one.  There are many financial advisors that are vying for business in many different areas, including medium to high net worth individuals, as well as businesses.  Marketing is highly regulated in the securities industry.  Considering all potential target markets and clientele, individuals as well as businesses, what do you feel are the biggest opportunities in the area of financial advising, and how would someone in my position capitalize on these opportunities and market to them?

Jeff Sloan:  Well, you hopefully know that business better than we do because, you know, we're not financial advisors.  I don't know exactly what the best opportunities in that business are today, but I'll tell you one thing, in terms of networking and exposing yourself, you know, I would make sure you have a website with a lot of information in there about your services, about your credentials, and testimonials from people who have used your services.  And I also -- there's nothing better than getting out and network and attempting to do business by meeting people, say, at local chamber events --

Rich Sloan:  Yeah.

Jeff Sloan:  -- and other networking events in the community.

Rich Sloan:  We talk about this a lot, Jeff, and it's the idea of positioning yourself as a thought leader.

Jeff Sloan:  Yeah.

Rich Sloan:  And it's very important.  What we'd recommend, Dean, is that you be the person that the industry follows.  You be the source of information.  You tell people where things are headed in finance and financial management, and where the opportunities and best practices are and those kinds of things.  Ways that you can do that would be to put out a regular press release to certain people in the media to position yourself as an alternative, to position yourself as an on-air expert or go-to person for local radio stations, to become a contributor to websites that serve the local area if you want to establish local branding, to create circulars and things of that kind that can be distributed through complementary businesses, but establish yourself as the guru, as the champion of this whole area, and business should come to you.

Dean:  Okay.  Great.

Rich Sloan:  You like that?

Dean:  Yeah.  Absolutely.

Rich Sloan:  Can you put that into practice?

Dean:  I think so.

Rich Sloan:  All right.  Good.

Jeff Sloan:  Well, good luck.  I know it's a hot, hot area right now so good luck to you.  You've chosen --

Dean:  It is.

Jeff Sloan:  -- a good field to get into.  The other thing is, Dean, you know, the StartupNation community, there's a lot of people in that community looking for financial advice relating to small business, relating to their own personal finances, so make sure you get into that community and get active.  It's all free, and you can do some great networking there..